There is something about knowing the town you live in. There is a certain comfort you get when you know a short cut when traffic backs up. There is a sense of pride when people ask the best place to eat and you can point them to a little place with great food and a great story.

After a few months of living in Suffolk, I would like to think I am getting to that point.

But, just when I think I have Suffolk figured out, it throws me a curveball as it did Saturday.

Driving around this weekend, as I often try to do, learning more and more about Suffolk, I came across Lone Star Lakes.

Simply; it was gorgeous.

As I drove around the miles of pathways that weave around the park, I could not believe the extraordinary fall colors that lined the mirror-flat creeks and lakes.

Nikki and I took the chance to take enough pictures to fill four scrapbooks. We took pictures of trees, leaves and even some very agitated geese.

It is hard to imagine there wasn’t anyone having a calm weekend picnic at one of the campsites, but there were plenty of local residents taking advantage of the warm weather by walking their dogs or simply walking alone.

It seems each time we go out “exploring,” as Nikki and I call it, we are surprised by the tremendous variety Suffolk has to offer.

There’s the hustle and bustle of downtown during mid-day traffic, only to be contrasted by the peace and quiet found near one of the canoe or boat landings at Lone Star Lakes.

On one hand you have nearly every national retailer you could ever want just minutes away and then on the other you have tremendous homespun stores throughout the city that offer their own special flare.

I know many reading this may think this is simply the musings of a “newcomer” and then there are others who find a drive through Whaleyville, Eclipse or Driver mundane.

But I hope to never have that feeling and based on the response from the geese we came across at Lone Star Lakes, they certainly don’t. Especially if you happen to have some bread cubes handy.